Robo-Mantis (or Mantis, Super Power variant), DCUC wave 9, by Mattel.
This is one of the few Super Powers figures I remember from when I was a kid. I'm fairly sure I remember it because I had it, and loved it. This was the figure I was most looking forward to in wave 9, though I think the Collect and Connect figure Chemo is my favorite from the wave.
(Oops! Forgot to put Green Arrow in the picture)
Okay, so two posts ago I mentioned that my cousin and I went toy shopping last night, we drove all over the Salt Lake Valley, hitting approximately 11 stores in total, and still skipping 4 or so Walmarts. This area is ripe with Walmarts.
I was actually looking for the Walmart Exclusive 5 pack consisting of Batman, Superman, repainted DCSH Catwoman, repainted DCSH Two-Face, and brand new Lex Luthor from the Super Friends. Two people in the Salt Lake area reported finding it Monday or Tuesday, so I was excited to find it, since I even happened to have money. As for the single packed figures, all the stores around here are swamped with waves 6 and 7, so I'm not expecting to see wave 8 at all, and I thought 9 was really iffy. I was flabbergasted to find wave 9 and two stores that were quite full of the Kalibak and Atom Smasher figures. And not only that, one store had a complete set, where I thought this wave was shipping in two different case assortments, like the last two have, with neither case being able to assemble a complete Chemo.
But none of that matters, because I did find a complete set of 7 Chemo figures. I'd like to get the classic style Mantis, but it's not very important to me, and the black Wildcat isn't either, though I think I'd like it a little more than the blue.
Of course, the real question is, how are the figures? Well, pretty damn good. It's no secret I'm in love with this line, and despite some hard to find figures (Metallo wave), and low-ish quality figures (wave 3), to me Mattel is doing, and can do no wrong.
Green Arrow isn't the one I'm most excited about, but the Fwooshers wanted pics of him, so I complied.
What I was really looking forward to was Chemo himself (itself?), Deadshot, and Robo-Mantis. I can't remember if I actually had the Super Powers toy Robo-Mantis is based of off, or if I just strongly desired it, but this figure is the one with the most nostalgic value to me (classic Aquaman and classic Firestorm do come close though), harkening back to my childhood, with my brother and I playing with the Superman, Aquaman and Firestorm figures that I do specifically remember.
Mantis is, simply put, one of the greatest figures this line has ever seen. Deadshot is awesome. Chemo is awesome. Black Canary and Green Arrow are great. Black Adam and Wildcat are pretty cool. Guardian is...really bland, actually. I haven't pulled out the checklist to actually verify the next statement, but I think this wave has provided us with the most villains at one time - 4 (or 5 if you count the two Mantis variants as separate characters) villains to 4 heroes. Although maybe Black Adam is in a gray area and could be counted on either side. I don't know, I don't get to keep up much with comics.
Sure, Chemo doesn't have a lot of articulation, and a lot of what is there is quite limited. He has no neck, and therefore no neck articulation. The shoulders are bal joints, with the most maneuverability of all the joints. No biceps, simple hinged elbows, he does have cut wrists on both sides of the gauntlet things, but on the elbow side there's not a lot of room. He has a swivel waist, t-crotch with about 45 degrees movement forward, and probably less than 10 back, no boot-top articulation or mid thigh, he does have rocker ankles, with a good bit of travel, and the forward/back hinge his actually quite limited by his boots.
But he looks awesome.
And he is BIG. Atom Smasher looks tall, but he's also human proportioned. Solomon Grundy looks big, because he's also bulky. Chemo dwarfs them all, he's taller than Atom Smasher, and much, much bulkier. I don't yet have any of wave 8 so I don't know how he stacks up next to Giganta, who was supposed to be the tallest C&C figure, but I don't really care how he looks next to her. He's big and bulky, and awesome. If she's taller, who cares? If she's shorter, so what? The way I'm talking about him, you would think Chemo is my favorite of the C&Cs, and honestly, I'm not sure. Metamorpho is a really well made figure, not big or anything, but pretty cool. Metallo is nothing less than freaking awesome, but I think I might actually like Chemo a little more. Only time will tell, and really, who even cares which I like better. I don't even thing I do.
What's important is DCUC is a sweet line, and wave 9 is super awesome. I'll actually be disappointed a little when I finally get the Giganta wave, because I've always been looking forward more to Chemo's wave. As great as some of the upcoming figures are (Joker, Man-bat, Power Girl, Imperiex) I think this is my favorite wave so far.
Chemo, the Collect & Connect figure from DCUC Wave 9, by Mattel
Had a great streak of good luck last night, in finding wave 9 at Walmart. Got all 7 characters, only one version of Mantis and Wildcat was present, but it was the version of Mantis I wanted the most (Super Powers), so I'm extremely happy.
Chemo is my favorite of the C&Cs since Metallo. Yes, cooler than Kalibak and Solomon Grundy, Chemo rocks!
Mattel released official pre-sales photos of wave 9 of DCUC, so I'll go ahead and join everyone else in the world and post those pictures. I stole these images from Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation site. Thanks, Poe.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I think I'm most excited for Deadshot, he is the character I'm most familiar with in the comics (particularly from Bruce Wayne: Murderer?), and he's definitely a well designed charaters.
Robo-Mantis is probably the next most exciting, I remember having the Super Powers figure as a kid, and I always thought it was great, a robotic-insect dude, what could be neater? Well, a newly updated figure sculpted by some of the best sculpters in the business, that's what.
The Collect & Connect figure, Chemo, is looks great, and I'm really excited for him as well. DCUC has really had great C&C figures. I initially was going to skip wave 1 entirely, until seeing Etrigan at Target convinced me to buy him, and then examining the Metamorpho piece I realized I'd really like him, and so ended up with all the figures from that wave, except classic Batman. Grodd isn't a bad figure either, except the lack of leg articulation, I'm just not a big fan of apes; he's definitely my least favorite of the C&Cs.
Solomon Grundy was the best C&C of the first four waves, and the one I looked forward to the most for a long time. Unlike many toy collectors that whined about his large size, I was perfectly happy with the mistake the factory made in not shrinking him down as much as was planned. He's a perfect fit for Grundy from The Long Halloween (by Jeph Lobe, art by Tim Sale) or Justice League: The Animated Series, so I love him to death.
As I have been saying, and will continue saying about these C&C figures, Despero was another great choice. The bandolier looks great, the weapons are great, his size is great. It seems like I didn't get a lot of time to enjoy him though, because Grundy was still eclipsing him from wave 3, and then when the Walmart wave was announced, Metallo began eclipsing Grundy.
Metallo is awesome. It's too bad that more people haven't been able to enjoy him, due to the difficulty in finding wave 5 in some areas. I was really quite lucky to get the set myself, as neither I nor my cousin ever saw a complete set locally, plus there was the mishap with an online retailer that stole $80 from many, many toy collectors. Thankfully, a helpful member of the Fwoosh.net forums found several extra sets, and I was able to purchase one from him. And Metallo was every bit as great as I hoped he would be. Hopefully, this year's Walmart wave will be easier to find.
Wave 6 brought us yet another of my most anticipated C&Cs - Kalibak, Darkseid's second son. I have a great fondness for Kalibak from Superman: The Animated Series (he's voiced by Michael Dorn, probably better known for his role as Lt Cmd Worf, in a Star Trek tv series and 4 films). Kalibak looked absolutely perfect to me, like he was based on the animated series (where in reality that design was based on a common look in the comics), and he fights with Metallo for my favorite C&C so far.
Wave 7 is soon to bring me Atom Smasher, who frankly is somewhat boring to me. He's not quite as boring as Grood, I think, maybe. Maybe he is. I'm just not a huge fan of extra large people. Grundy is great, because he's a huge zombie. Atom Smasher is just a huge guy. Not that exciting to me, not is Giganta from waave 8, but at least she's a female, and everybody knows this line needs more women in it. It doesn't help that I'm not familiar with Atom Smasher at all, and Giganta only marginally from one episode in Justice League: The Animated Series.
Which brings us back to Chemo, who will be one of my favorite C&Cs, despite only having read of him in one Supergirl comic, and he didn't even do much more than agonize over his existence, "Am I alive?" to which Supergirl said, "No, you're a freak of nature." But he's going to be big, and he's translucent. Awesome!
Now, you may have noticed I'm not terribly familiar with most of these characters, and yet the C&C aspect is one of my favorite things about the line. They're such well executed figures, that I love them. Contrast that to the Marvel Legends line, and their Build A Figures - Mojo is nasty looking, a disgusting blob, and I have no desire to own such a thing; MODOK freaks me the hell out, and were someone to pay me to own the figure it would mysteriously find its way between a hammer and the sidewalk. Giant Man is just some really tall guy, and as we already established about tall guys, who cares? Onslaught was an interesting design, and yet shortly after completing that figure, I sold it to buy something more interesting (Specifically, the DCUC Metallo wave). Apocalypse, I still have the black variant, but like Onslaught I sold the blue one for Metallo. The giant, mutant-killing Sentinel robot is the only one that holds any true interest to me, and karmicly one of the most difficult to complete nowadays, as the head/torso piece that came with Spiderman is difficult to find and therefor expensive on eBay.
My point is, I would have had to be a fan of these characters to be interested in their figures, and DCUC requires no such thing for me. Conversely, the figures are so great I want to learn more about the characters, and thus I've bought many comics in the last few months. Just more reasons why DCUC is the best toyline ever.
Remember Kids: Crazy robots...crazy robots everywhere!
Yesterday was the Mattel and DC panel at New York Comic Con, wherein Mattel made a few announcements regarding their DC lines. Of course, the ones that matter are those regarding DC Universe Classics, currently the best toy line in existence, as well as the best toy line ever. Specifically, Mattel announced wave 9, as well as giving us a couple points of info regarding the rest of the year.
Thanks to Action Figure Insider and Toy News International for the pics, visit their sites for more pics and info from NYCC.
Lets start with the non wave 9 info. Several weeks ago Mattel announced four 2 packs they wanted to release, but the actual release of these 2 packs depends on getting enough pre-orders for them. They are available for pre-order at many online retailers, my personal favorite being Corner Store Comics, based in California, UPS Ground only takes 2 days to get to me. Another popular retailer that I've never used, since they're in Missouri or someplace over there, and for me generally more expensive than CSC, is Enchanted Toy Chest
As I said, Mattel announced four of these packs, but only gave us pictures for one, so orders for the others have been slow. The first to be released features a re-release of last year's (wait, since we're in 2009 now, it's not last year's line anymore, it's 2007's) DCSH Clayface and black/gray Batman, although the Batman has been mud splattered. I don't need this pack as I was able to get both of these figures at retail. Yesterday at NYCC Mattel showed off the second 2 pack for this year, Superman and Brainiac, Superman being a kitbash of Eradicators heat vision eyes head on the Kalibak wave's Superman, so we can get a more classic, short haired Supes, as opposed to Mullet Superman which many people don't care for. Personally, I like Mullet Supes, because all the Justice League comics I own feature post-Return of Superman Mullet Superman or Blue Energy Superman.
Of course, the important piece of this 2 pack is classic All-I-Want-Is-A-Decent-Pair-Of-Pants Brainiac. Sure, it's sort of a goofy look, green legs/hands/head, white boots, black shorts and pink polo shirt? But it's still Brainiac, the design used in the Super Friends show (which I barely remember), and that design has recently returned to the comics, where Brainiac is a very scary robot. And I do kinda like the look, so I'm definitely going to order this set from CSC as soon as I have sufficient funds.
Notice you can see Batman vs Clayface in the background.
Mattel also showed us the figures from the next mattycollector.com exclusive 2 pack (the first being Adam Strange and Starfire): Alex Luthor and Ultraman. They're from an alternate universe, Ultraman is an evil version of Superman, while Luthor is a good version of Lex Luthor. They look good, and I'll be getting them (you'll be hearing that a lot any time I talk about DCUC).
Other news: We will finally be getting the brown Man-Bat that was cut from DCSH in wave 10. Yipee! I'm really excited by this, since until I'm ready to fork over $40+ for the SDCC Exclusive version I am without a Man-Bat. We will be getting a new Joker figure based on wave 8's Gentleman Ghost, and it will look AWESOME.
Let's see, who to start with? Might as well be one of the most requested figures, one of the most recognizable of the figures, a well known member of the Justice League of America: Green Arrow. It looks like he'll come with four arrows of different styles, including his boxing glove arrow (which is dumb, and even his son thinks so, but then he was forced to use it, and it worked, and it really surprised him). Frankly, Ollie looks great! He's got the Errol Flynn look down, and he pulls it off well. He's got all all new chest, biceps and forearms (with archery bracers), and New Hands! With a pin/hinge wrist joint, it'll look perfect! It appears he has the standard pieces every where else, along with a new head (as ever figure does). People were saying he would have a real bow string, as opposed to the plastic string he's displayed with, but I don't remember reading that, but that would be cool. I'm quite looking forward to Green Arrow, he'll definitely be one of the, if not the favorite figure of the wave.
To go along with Ollie, is his wife (or girlfriend, I'm not sure if they were ever married in the Satellite era), Black Canary. She also looks really good, of course, that's a silly thing to say, since this whole line was sculpted by the Four Horsemen, and they do amazing work; Every figure in this line looks great. Anyway, since whoever decides these things is in love with the Satellite era of the Justice League, the main members of the League have been of a more classic look, as opposed to the better, modern look. :D Hence, Dinah has blue leg underneath her real fishnet tights, instead of the bare legs of a later look. She's got a short leather jacket, which means she gets all new arms and hands, she's got what looks like a retooled Wonder Woman torso, and I don't think we've had boot tops like those on a woman yet, so those are probably new (and look like they would work for Power Girl, hint hint). I would have preferred the modern Black Canary, even if she doesn't show as much skin as the classic version does, but that just because I tend to prefer the modern artists more. Anyway, Black Canary is another one fans have been clamoring for, as she's an integral part of the Justice League (again, going to the modern era I think she's actually the chairwoman of the Justice League, I'll know for sure in a few weeks when I finally get the first storyline from the current Justice League of America series).
Now, getting to the figures that will probably be my favorite, wave 8's addition to the ever growing set of New Gods figures: another one of Darkseid's minions, Mantis I've not read many comics featuring the New Gods, so I wouldn't have called myself a fan before this line, but the figures are so great that I'm definitely a fan of the New Gods now. It's a good thing the Four Horsemen are such fans and getting a new addition with almost every wave. As with many comic book characters Mantis is some guy with a funny looking costume. Goofy wings on his back and a funky helmet with antenna on it, and yet once sculpted by master artists who are also fans of the guy, he comes out looking pretty neat, despite the odd stripes on his costume, but again, they make him look good, just like they did will Killer Moth from wave 6, who has to have one of the goofiest costumes EVER. Mantis looks good, and I want him, check out his new gloves and boots.
And more importantly, Mantis gets a variant (similar waves 6 and 8 New Gods characters having variants). Exactly like wave 8's variant though this variant is based on the redesign for the Super Powers toy line of the 80's, and let me say, this is the best redesign ever. I loved this figure as a kid (I'm not actually sure if I had it myself, or if I just new of it and really wanted it). The robo-insectoid Mantis looks much scarier than the original design, and I'm tempted to get a couple, and set them up with the Parademons as though their generic soldiers in Darkseid's army. Mantis is extra detailed, looking mechanical and insect like and creepy and awesome, and everything looks like completely new parts (like both versions of the Parademon). I expect this to be my favorite figure of the wave, by quite a bit.
The figure that will probably be my next favorite (after robo-Mantis and before classic Mantis) is one of DC's most renown assassins, Deadshot. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the Deadshot production sample was not on display, so we only got a glimpse of him from Mattel's slide presentation. And he looks great. Like Deathstroke, Deadshot is more detailed than the average super hero. He's got ammo belts, armored sections, and weapons (Deadshot is known for his wrist guns), he's got a scope thing over one eye, and a big target over his heart (so David Cain can shoot him in it, but he gets better). His head even looks like a retool of Deathstroke's masked head. I'm quite looking forward to him, he'll be really fun to have.
The remaining figures are terribly interesting to be, but they look nice, and I need the C&C, and I'm buying all the single packed figures anyway, so I'll be getting them. Guardian is the most exciting to me, although he's going to look too much like a Dr Fate wannabe. I know nothing of Guardian, so I won't say anymore.
Wildcat is an integral member of the Justice Society of America, which means I know absolutely nothing about him. He doesn't look bad, and there's no reason for me not to get him. He will also come in a blue chase variant, which I don't care about, but I'm tempted to get two Chemos, so maybe I will.
Finally, another one high on everyone's want list, and very puzzling that he wasn't in wave 7 along with Captain Marvel, Black Adam! Normally I'd be excited to get him, but alongside the more visually interesting figures above, Black Adam looks rather boring, frankly. He's a cool character, and saw a lot of use in 52, and he does come will a nifty ankh medallion, so he's definitely a welcome addition to the line, he just looks really plain next to the likes of ROBO-MANTIS!
And finishing up with the C&C figure: Chemo!
One last point of interest, the Ame-Comi line of DC statues. I'm not a huge fan of anime, but I don't hate it either, and this line really interests me, though they're too pricey for me to collect them in any regular manner. Wonder Woman has been my favorite so far, and I really wish I could find her for $30, cause I'd get it at that price. At NYCC we were shown the next two, Classic Catwoman, and modern Batgirl, and I must say, Batgirl I will have at any price.
And that's mostly everything. Mattel announced a 6 inch line of Ghostbusters figures that I'm interested in, but as they will be exclusive to Matty's website they will be coming out every other month and cost $20 each, so I'll probably be passing on them. They are also starting a line of mini deformed figures, similar to Marvel's Super Hero Squad, or the Star Wars Galactic Heroes, which would be fun to get for my girls, but I won't be collecting them for myself.
Remember kids: If you are what you eat, I could be you by morning.
